Chris experienced a life-threatening ascending aortic dissection due to Bicuspid Aortic Valve Disease on August 3, 2004.
At the age of 30, Chris Fox led a full and physically active life. If not at the
gym, he could often be found scuba diving or participating in martial arts during
his leisure hours. He had no reason to think that he would find himself in a
desperate, life-threatening emergency. He did not know that he was born with bicuspid
aortic valve disease and that inside his chest his ascending aorta had
ballooned to 5.3 cm.
That
Tuesday
in early August had been an ordinary
sort of day for Chris, who lives in Brisbane, Australia. But while traveling
home after work, he realized that suddenly something was very wrong. Following
is Chris' description of what happened.
"On the 03/08/04 I was on my
way home from work on the train when I got a sharp stabbing pain in the centre
of my chest / base of my sternum, which radiated to my jaw / base of my ears.
At this point I started to feel very light-headed and thought I may pass
out (I still have no idea how I remained conscious after now knowing what that
pain was.) I got off at my stop and walked the 300/400 meters home where
I sat down for 5 minutes to try and collect my thoughts. After deciding that
something definitely wasn't 'right' (a decision I now know actually saved my
life), I jumped in my car and drove myself to the local Medical Centre, asked
to see the doctor, sat down and patiently waited for my name to be called.
The doctor took one look at me, put me on an ECG machine and called an ambulance.
They then took me to Royal Brisbane Hospital Emergency Department,
arriving about 6pm. The next 12 hours were spent being examined by a multitude
of doctors, blood tests, x-rays and then the CT scan, which showed the 'Aortic
Dissection'."
When the ascending aorta in the chest tears, it is always
a surgical emergency and time becomes critical. Something over 12 hours had
already passed since Chris felt that first stabbing pain in his chest, and now
he needed to be transported to a facility equipped to perform aortic surgery.
He remembers being taken to The Prince Charles Hospital. Here echocardiography
revealed a leaking bicuspid aortic valve along with the aortic dissection, and
it was confirmed he needed emergency surgery. Beginning about 7:30 AM on August
4th, in a procedure lasting just over 6.5 hours, Chris' aortic valve, aortic root,
and ascending aorta up to the arch were all replaced. For 26 minutes, deep
hypothermic circulatory arrest was used.
Post-operative bleeding was
controlled without again returning to surgery, and Chris awoke in intensive care
the next morning, August 5th. On August 13th, ten days after feeling that first
pain in his chest, Chris was discharged from the hospital. He came back a
few days later on August 19th due to fever, returning home once again on August
23rd, twenty days after it all began.
Chris and others like him represent
a very vulnerable group of individuals. With no heart murmur and no symptoms
until the sudden onset of severe chest pain, especially at a young age when
this might be least expected, Chris experienced bicuspid aortic valve disease
in its most treacherous form: an aneurysm silently forming in the chest of a seemingly
healthy, athletic individual who has no idea they are at risk of aortic
tearing or rupture. And then one day, without warning, their aorta tears.
Chris
describes what happened to him as "life-changing" and says, "The
good news is, I survived and according to the surgeon and cardiologist the prognosis
is good."
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Chris (in back on the right in black shirt) and his family, July 2005. August
2005 marked the one year anniversary of Chris' dissection and life-saving emergency
surgery.
